Residents call for end of Woodhouse Moor barbecue area plans: updated

One of the signs currently warning students on Woodhouse Moor Photograph: John Baron/guardian.co.uk

Angry residents have called for Leeds council to end its plans for a dedicated students' barbecue area on one of the city's busiest areas of parkland.

About 50 residents attended last night's Hyde Park and Woodhouse Forum meeting - and many said the council should immediately scrap its barbecue area plans on Woodhouse Moor.

Last August, senior councillors approved a trial run of a students' barbecue area near the edge of the moor following complaints about damage done to the green area and large amounts of rubbish being left behind.

The council said the results of the trial would help it to decide whether or not a permanent area should be established. Barbecues have become so popular on the parkland that council officials said a bylaw banning them had proved very difficult to enforce.

But many at last night's meeting suggested the current temporary arrangement of parks worker enforcing a bylaw banning barbecues at the beauty spot was working and should not be changed.

"To spend money on a special barbecue area is complete nonsense. It is a waste of time and money and we should not be doing it. Why not stick with the current arrangement, which local residents are more than happy with?"

Resident Mercia Southon added:

"Woodhouse Moor is the most intensively used park in Leeds and should be policed as it is now. Leeds gets a lot of enjoyment from it, we shouldn't spoil it with a barbecue area."

Another resident, Victoria Jaquiss, said that it was a pleasure to walk around the area at the moment and that the moor was looking so good because of the current enforcement action by parks workers.

Woodhouse Moor, Leeds Photograph: John Baron/guardian.co.uk

Another man said it made no sense to start to inflict damage on one part of the moor when the whole area barbecue free at present.

Funding for the current council moor patrols comes from the area committee and is only for a finite period. Kevin Barker, from the council's parks and countryside department, told the meeting that the barbecue area may be up and running by early June.

Labour councillor Gerry Harper said he was just as angry as local residents and would be 'doing everything' to stop the proposals.

Views from residents last night will be brought to the inner north west area committee of Leeds council.

UPDATE 11am: More than 600 students have joined a Facebook group called the Hyde Park Anti-Fun Patrol, which is complaining that the patrols are preventing people having fun on the moor.

'Honeypot' students warned over opportunist burglars

Students are the easy target of burglars in the Hyde Park area, police told last night's meeting at Woodsley Road Multicultural Community Centre.

Inspector Simon Jessop said that crime figures in the area were now lower than it was at the same time last year - but that there had been a spike in burglaries last October. He pointed to student houses with unlocked doors or windows and weak or old door locks.

Jessop said: "Burglars do appear to be targeting student houses - it is a honeypot. If they target one house where five students live, they could get away with, say, five laptops.

"The students are young, they think they've got more important things to think about than locking doors. Mummy and daddy locked the windows before, and they're just not used to it."

Jessop said a lot of effort was being put in to educate students to be more safe and secure.

He also encouraged residents to attend the local Partners and Communities Together (PACT) meetings, which were an opportunity for the public to shape policing in their community. The next meeting is on Wednesday, May 26, 7pm, at the Burley Lodge Centre.

Royal Park Community Consortium support

The two Hyde Park and Woodhouse Ward city councillors present at the meeting - Labour's Javaid Akhtar (elected last week) and Gerry Harper (elected in February's by-election) - both pledged their support for Royal Park Community Consortium's bid to turn the abandoned building into a community hub.

Both men had said they supported the consortium's bid during their respective election campaigns.

Harper said: "The decision was put back by the executive board until after the election for electoral reasons, to my mind. Hopefully, should Labour gain control of the council, we can have a look at it again."

Residents' parking schemes set for area

Three residents'-only parking schemes in Hyde Park will be set up and will be in operation within the next four to six weeks, residents were told.

The schemes will ease problems with students and staff from the nearby university parking in residential areas, blocking roads and making junctions dangerous.

What do you think? Have your say on any of these issues in the comments section below.

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